𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐈𝐍 𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄

After discussing a lot of movies featuring Placebo songs on the soundtrack, today we will talk about a film where Brian Molko and his bandmates also appear as actors. So, this part of ‘Placebo & films’ series is dedicated to iconic, ‘lipstick-kissed’ 𝐕𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞.

Photo credits: Official poster, screenshots of the film / edit by Olga

Acting was Brian’s first artistic passion which he consequently followed by studying at Goldsmith and getting a degree in drama.
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓?
📢"I think I would have probably tried my hand at acting, because it was my first love."
(𝐾𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔 "𝑈𝑝 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜", 𝑂𝑐𝑡'00)

𝐕𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 (1998) is a musical drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes, co-produced by Michael Stipe (REM), starring Ewan McGregor, Jonathn Rhys Meyers, Christian Bale. The film won the award for the Best Artistic Contribution at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. and a BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design.
You may read more about the costume design for the film in this article:
👉https://bit.ly/3fHkfOF

Scene from Velvet Goldmine

Set in Britain during the early 1970s, the movie is an exploration of the glam rock era. Taking its name from the 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆’𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 of the same name, Velvet Goldmine tells the story of a fictional glam rock star Brian Slade, sexually fluid and androgynous person, who was patterned after David Bowie, Jobriath and, to a lesser extent, Marc Bolan [original writer of 20th Century Boy].
📢𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐝 𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐧𝐞𝐬 explained he had ‘a very modest goal’ for his experimental film: “I want to turn every gay person straight, and every straight person gay.” (𝐷𝑎𝑧𝑒𝑑, 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 2018)

David Bowie initially disapproved of the film and its many similarities with his life story, and threatened to sue. So, the script had to be rewritten to create more distance between the character and the real man. Obviously, Bowie vetoed the proposal that his songs appear in the film.

All three then members of Placebo got the roles in the film: 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 and 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭 were playing members of the Flaming Creatures (Malcolm and Billy respectively) and 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐎𝐥𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐥 was playing Polly Small's bassist. Another member of the Flaming Creatures, Pearl, was played by 𝐗𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 (Paul Wilkinson), former lead singer of the band DexDexTer and, later, in 2003-2005, a keyboard player for Placebo on tour.
For the soundtrack, Placebo created “one of the best and most glittery musical performances in the film – the fictional band The Flaming Creatures’ biting, almost gothic rendition of T. Rex’s 𝟐𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐲.” (𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑤𝑠, 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 2007)
Brian also sang a small part of the song 𝐁𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭, performed by another fictional band, The Venus In Furs.
📍𝑷𝒍𝒐𝒕
In 1984, British journalist Arthur Stuart is writing an article about the career, withdrawal from public life and death hoax of 1970s glam superstar Brian Slade by interviewing those who had a part in the entertainer's career. Recalling their thoughts, each person contributes to revealing a particular segment in Slade's personal and professional life.
Part of the story involves Stuart's family's reaction to his homosexuality, and how the gay and bisexual glam rock stars and music scene gave him the strength to come out. Rock shows, fashion, and rock journalism all play a role in showing the youth culture of 1970s Britain, as well as the gay culture of the time.

Scene from Velvet Goldmine

✨𝑮𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒎𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑻𝒐𝒅𝒅 𝑯𝒂𝒚𝒏𝒆𝒔' 𝒉𝒚𝒑𝒆𝒓-𝒉𝒚𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒎 𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑽𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒕 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒆-𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅-𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅-𝒃𝒊𝒕-𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 '𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒑'. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒄 𝑩𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒏'𝒔 20𝒕𝒉 𝑪𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒚 𝑩𝒐𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒑, 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌. 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔, 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒖𝒔 𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒚 '70𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆, ‘𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆.' 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒅𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑯𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑪𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔; '𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓,' 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔, '𝒂 1920'𝒔 𝒈𝒂𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎.'
'𝑴𝒎𝒎,' 𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍, 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒆. '𝑰𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔.'
(𝐺𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑟 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒 "𝑆𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑠", 𝑂𝑐𝑡'98)

🎥𝐕𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 – 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫
👉https://bit.ly/2COej7Y
🎬𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐢𝐧 𝐕𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞
👉https://bit.ly/2OUNcep
🎶𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝟐𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐲
👉https://bit.ly/3hkM8we
🎬𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟖
👉https://bit.ly/2CMUpKx

No doubt, it was an interesting experience for Placebo mixed, at the same time, with some contradictions. The fact that David Bowie disliked the script made the movie a bit complicated topic to discuss with him, but, noteworthy, it never really became a bigger problem for their friendship with Brian. And more, David performed 20th Century Boy together with Placebo at the Brit award ceremony in 1999.

We can also follow Brian’s opinion on this experience changing over time. First, he was excited about trying himself as an actor in a big project and getting a chance to work with one of his favorite directors. He really enjoyed acting and was quite ready for another proposal. Although, later, the idea started to look not so attractive as they didn’t want Placebo to become kind of a ‘band on a rent’ for movies.

I gathered some quotes and excerpts of the articles and interviews from different years, so you can make your own conclusions.

Making of Velvet Goldmine

📢"It's a subject we don't bring up with David because he's doing his own Ziggy Stardust movie, but he's not holding it against us," Molko explains. "We became the Flaming Creatures, a trashy group obviously inspired by The New York Dolls. We did a cover of T-Rex's `20th-Century Boy'; we wanted to drag it up to the Nineties. It's a real high point of the film, full of colour, it really grabs you. This could be the end of my movie career, but I would like to do more."
(𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜, 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐴𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑠𝑡 21, 1998)

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑽𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒕 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇-𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒔?
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Because you obviously didn’t understand it. It’s a great love story, it’s a feast of colour and music.
📢𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: And it has the most beautiful scene of two men kissing, ever.
(𝑁𝑀𝐸 "𝑀𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐴𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑘", 𝐷𝑒𝑐'98)

𝐍𝐘𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊: Brian, you played a part in the movie Velvet Goldmine and I heard that you have a drama background...
📢𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍: I like acting. I really do and I wish I could do it more often – at least I’m more qualified than Courtney – but still, I don’t think I will have all that much time for it, you know, but it’s something I’ll keep in mind. I need to do something creative, that was always my motivation. At the moment it’s music, and the band has become my life, but there is always a possibility that I might go back to acting. After all, I graduated from drama school, Goldsmiths College.
(𝑁𝑌 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 "𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜", 𝐽𝑎𝑛'99)

📢"It had its problems, including budget, but I think it's a beautiful film. It's a fantasy. People shouldn't expect it to be a docu-drama on glam rock because it's a love story. But it's the bane of our experience, we have to defend it in every interview. If I hear the 'Are you a glam band?' question one more time I'm going to explode."
(𝐻𝑖𝑡 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐, "𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑛𝑒", 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 29, 1999)

Promo for Velvet Goldmine

📢"… Take for instance, a recent backstage incident at San Francisco's Warfield Theatre … As the discussion moved on to movies, Todd Hayne's Velvet Goldmine was mentioned, which instantly brought one young hotshot out of his aloof shell. "That picture sucked!" he boldly declared. "Every last frame of it ... I hated it so much, I walked out on it near the end!" Molko's eyes brightened, like a cat when it's just scented a mouse in the house. "Oh yeah?" he asked, moving to face his opponent. "Is that how you truly feel about it?"
The loudmouth didn't even see it coming. "Hell yes!" he shot back. "Velvet Goldmine was a complete waste of time for everyone involved." "Really?" grinned the Placeban with barely contained delight. "Well, guess what! I was in that film, you fucking idiot! The director is a friend of mine, I worked really hard on all my scenes, and we all love how the movie turned out. Soooo ·" and Molko raised his right hand, middle finger extended, until it was directly in front of the poor pretender's nose. "FUCK YOU!" A guillotine beheading couldn't have been more effective. The kid could only stammer, turn red and bleatingly admit that he hadnât really seen the flick - he was only parroting some reviews he'd read. Too late - Molko had already turned his back."
(𝑃𝑢𝑙𝑠𝑒 "𝐺𝑒𝑡 𝑂𝑢𝑡 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐶𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑠", 𝐴𝑝𝑟'00)

𝐃𝐍𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐱: You didn't keep it a secret that you worked on the movie The Velvet Goldmine. How do you feel about having worked on that movie?
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: I'm content with it. The rest of the band has another opinion about it though. I think the film really suffered from the budget being cut down with 50%. It was a bit too long and some of the rolls didn't have the right actors for it. But it's the only film I've been in and I'm proud of it.
𝐃𝐍𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐱: Any further movie ambitions?
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: To be honest, no. I've been offered some parts but as the years go by I become less interested in one. We have been offered the part of Judas Priest in the movie Rock Star with Jennifer Anniston and Mark Wahlberg. But I've learned that I don't want to end like some band in a movie. And other than some Vampire parts I haven't been offered anything I like. And the more I think about it the more I find that it's dangerous for someone that makes music to become and actor. It just has to be something good.
(𝐷𝑁𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑥 "𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜", 𝑀𝑎𝑟'03)

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒂, 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒖𝒆?
📢No, again, I don't have the same concerns as these hip-hop guys like Ludacris who need to have a parallel film career along with their music career. I don't have time, being in this band takes up all of my time and I'm ludicrously out of practice.
(𝑂𝐾! 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑎 "𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜", 𝐽𝑢𝑛'09)

Scene from Velvet Goldmine